I wish I had no place to go!

"It's difficult to build the kingdom of God, lift and serve others, and give of ourselves to those who need us if we are burned out or 'sapped' of all spiritual, physical, and emotional strength. Jesus often 'withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed' (Luke 5:16)," said Elder M. Russell Ballard. "We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvenate ourselves spiritually as the Savior did."

I'm reading "Keeping Life's Demands in Balance" and it explains that we do not need to feel guilty or selfish in pulling back to regroup in any way, because there is a strength that comes from sometimes just being home (p. 14). When I was teaching Special Ed, I used to make up poems for all my kids because they loved when I would use their name in a funny poem, and then they would make me keep repeating the poem and laugh for so long- haha, I miss them! So I decided to make up a poem for myself that goes along with what I'm learning from this book, and how I need to be changing my life. Hopefully you'll laugh as hard and for as long as my little kids used to!!! =)

The happiest nights that I've come to know,
are the nights I have no place to go.
And I get to say when the day is through,
"Tonight I have nothing to do."
The joy of relaxing and the peace untold

Of sitting 'round in my slippers old.
Drinking my Diet Coke in my favorite chair,
Loving the fact that I'm not going anywhere.
I don't have to hurry to eat my meal,
Or force a smile that I do not feel.
But I can watch a movie from my bookcase shelf,
And sit back to relax, and just be myself.
I love those nights but they are very rare,
Nothing on earth could ever compare!
And I'm sorry for anyone who doesn't know,
The happiness I feel in having no place to go!!!!!!!!
~Carrie =)

I also love John Lubbock's quote on taking a break.... "Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass listening to the waterfalls, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."

Apples and Coconuts

Girls are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. The boys don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy to reach. So the apples up top think something is wrong with them when in reality they are amazing. They just have to keep sitting up top and waiting for the boy who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree!

P.S. I kinda want to be a coconut tree instead =)

The end of the best

I give up on tv!! Law & Order has been my favorite and only watched tv series for the past 3 years. But after what I just saw, I might end up selling my tv and canceling DirectTV. I was watching an episode from 2008 with my favorite Detective Lupo (Jeremy Sisto), and the episode was called "Lost Boys". It mentioned in the summary of it that it was about a polygamist group, but I didn't think anything of it because I love Lupo so I was going to watch it. OH MY. One of the scenes was a polygamist boy trying to run away and the detectives grabbed his shirt to stop him and it tore his shirt off. And do you wanna know what was underneath his shirt????!! A white t-shirt with hand drawn marks on them, permanent marker drawn symbols. MY SYMBOLS!! OUR SYMBOLS! Symbols that should NEVER be aired on public television. So the next scene was the detectives looking up on a so-called 'Mormon' website that explained what each symbol represented and why they had drawn them where they drew them on the shirt. I was mortified. It was so unbelievably wrong and even though they finally agreed that the boys weren't Mormon because Mormon's go to movies and accept black people but the boys did not, those hand drawn marks were horrific to see on my favorite show. On any show! I have no idea what happened next because I turned it off, but I pray with everything in me that anyone who watched that episode will never remember what they saw or heard about marks on a shirt and that they'll think it was something made up by the polygamist boys. OH MY. I have nothing to watch on tv now =(

FAREWELL TO LAW & ORDER
You are now buried in my past.... =(

"Big Love" =(

I was caring for one of my Down Syndrome patients and her Mom mentioned a few of the patient's favorite shows before leaving for the night. After getting sick of watching John & Kate Plus 8, I decided to watch another favorite show of hers that had been recorded. Knowing absolutely NOTHING about Big Love, I turned it on and will never forget how the feeling of the room changed. It instantly changed and still not understanding anything, I started watching the show. OH MY! Are you kidding me? I was appalled at what I was hearing. Temple covenants, garments shown, and being ex-communicated on the spot???!!!! WHAT? SERIOUSLY??! I was so completely offended, and all I wanted to do was start bawling. A public television show, shown for the last year, is lightly and carelessly talking about the things I cherish the most in my life? Keep in mind that the patient I was watching TV with is non-speaking and mentally challenged, so she had no clue as to why I was sitting on the edge of the couch with my mouth hanging open. WOW. I had no idea such a show existed! I've seen protesters and anti-Mormon websites, but a TV show? It was so sickening to me that I had to leave the room, and I don't think I felt the Spirit for quite awhile after that because I was so confused and in awe of the things I had just heard.

Anyways, the point of my horrible experience is that I found a website/blog called FairMormon.org, and it lists several things that the show is portraying and compares it to the truth of what we believe. I had to stop reading some of the comparisons because I was getting furious!! The show misquoted President Packer, they called the disciplinary council a love court, and they got kicked out of the celestial room because their 15 minutes in God's room was up??!!! And those are just a few of the things I read before I threw up. OH MY! It makes me SOO completely angry! So I wanted to share the website with you because it offers the comparisons that are greatly needed because of this wretched show, and it also provides a topical guide of how to answer Anti-Mormon questions without arguing or causing contention. My invitation to everyone that might be reading this is to turn the station to K-BYU and never change the channel. =)

http://en.fairmormon.org/%22Big_Love%22_and_the_temple

http://en.fairmormon.org/Topical_guide

In order to get rid of my hatred and anger of what the
world is doing to the things I love,I'm giving you the
link of my favorite EFY song, Stand In Holy Places,
that shows pictures of temples all around the world.
I love the Gospel and will defend it 'til the day I die!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QxJW9FnevQ

FILLING OUR DARK SPOTS WITH LIGHT

Nothing is more constructive than a
good, powerful, and pure personal life.

I'm reading Jeffrey R. Holland's "Broken Things to Mend" and have loved every page I've read. This is what I've been working on and praying about lately, and I wanted to share it with you so we can all individually shine.

"What we are shines more brightly than anything we say or do. If we are to fill the world with light, we must first face any tattered remnant of darkness that remains in our souls. Our work is to divide the light from the darkness by lighting more and more candles in our personal lives. I can think of a few ways we could begin to do that. First, let us be clear about the holder of the candles. I find it interesting that the first thing light reveals when a candle is lit is the hand that's holding it. The Lord made this fascinating observation about personal light in Luke 11:34-36. The candles we hold up for others to see ought to be extensions of the light within ourselves. I invite you to join me in regularly turning inward to confront there anything we wouldn't want others to see. It may not be pornography, but it may be impatience, vanity, jealousy, hatred, or any number of other flaws we need to remedy. Whatever it is, let us trim our lamps, add oil, and make those changes necessary that allow us to hold up a brighter candle and a purer light. Each of us must be the best person we can be in every way we can. In order to do this, we have to focus on the dark and hidden things about ourselves that others might not be able to see. Since darkness is the absence of light, surely the most powerful way to confront the darkness is to fill it with light. As Elder Robert D. Hales has observed: 'Light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time, whether a tiny or large amount of space. Light dispels darkness and when light is present, darkness is vanquished and must depart.' More importantly, the darkness we find in ourselves was only able to conquer the light because we let our light diminish or depart in one of our characteristics or beliefs. If we simply stop doing something, or refrain from going places, we still are not FILLING THE VOID WITH LIGHT. We all have heard about the gospel principles which are able to light up our lives, and we are also aware of the number of principles we need to strengthen in order to fill our spots of darkness with light. We all have spots of darkness, yet we all have been invited to stand in confidence with Christ. My prayer is for us to fill our dark spots up with the light of our Savior."

~Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

(Let me know if you want page numbers of things he said because
I mixed a couple of my thoughts in with his thoughts,

and then let me know how excited you are to go buy his book!!)

Temple Square

The link is a fun website that gives you panoramic views of Temple Square, both inside all of the buildings and the view from the grounds around the Salt Lake Temple!

http://www.utah3d.net/GalleryTempleSquare.html

Autism

I've been taking the kids I do Respite Care Work for on tons of field trips and this picture is a perfect explanation of how most of our adventures go. My Autistic kids find their own things to focus on!

I absolutely love my job! =)
~Carrie

Putting my education to use =)

I'm taking a Program Design & Proposal Writing class where I'm learning how to write grants. Over the last 2 months, I've become a respite care worker for 3 disabled kids and I've decided to write grants for the business I just made up! Lisa didn't approve of the last company I tried to create, but hopefully she'll like my new creation a little better!! I'm working for a company that takes disabled individuals out into the community everyday and I absolutely love my job. My respite hours are separate from the company I work for and I put in hours for the 3 kids after work, so I thought I could create a business for night hours that is a copy cat of the company I work for during the day. Respite means that I'm giving the parents a break from having to care for their child- pretty much a government paid babysitter! For my new company, I would still take the kids out in the community, such as parks, bowling, swimming, movies, malls, etc., but it would be respite night hours for Autistic kids. Right now I work at night with a girl who has cerebral palsy, an Autistic boy, and a brain injured hemianosia little girl and of course they would all be invited as part of my new business, but I will focus on Autistic children ages 2-18. My company is called Pieces Of the Puzzle, which provides after-school Autistic awareness needs. POP (Pieces Of the Puzzle) services would be from 5-9pm Monday through Friday, and 9-3pm on Saturdays. We will do different activities everyday in the community and have social skills lessons. Since Autism affects the motor skills and street smarts a child could have, POP would benefit the children by teaching them those needed skills. Plus, it's respite hours for the parents to have a break. So tonight for my homework I'm going to write a grant where I'm asking companies to donate a vehicle or provide money for a bus.... I'll let you know how it goes!!! =)

What He has said

I got to be a part of the BYU Women's Conference this year and I loved it! This is the booth that we came up with to represent Christ.....

http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/2009/sharing_stations/1.cfm

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland shares his testimony on how we can read about everything He has said, but God's words have never ceased and we can still know what He is saying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_xl_AR0IR

Cliches are definitely not my thing =)

I've been teaching my kids how to understand the meanings of phrases and what certain things are implying. We've read about a million quotes and sayings, but I totally skipped over the cliche part of the lesson because I don't understand those AT ALL. Like someone's bark being worse than his bite....ummm- humans don't bark. And a cat's meow?? Yep- no cats around. But the dumbest one is people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones... why would you ever throw stones in your house anyway? So I don't teach that section! But I have found some really good quotes as we've been studying the comprehension packets. These are some of my favorite quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson-

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
The best effect you can have on a person is the feeling they have after you've left their presence.
The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation.
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could and it's over now.
Every great and commanding moment in your life is the triumph of enthusiasm.
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all that I have not seen.

A glass house with NO rocks =)